Contexto económico, social, alimentario y nutricional

4.1 Rationale for the Qualitative Phase

During the process of reviewing the literature for this research, it became clear that the apparent lack of clarity and definition for several networking terms and the resulting difficulty in selecting measurable indicators of NP, meant that some refinement of terminology was required. This necessitated exploratory research, based on the need to describe the networking terms using ‘operational’ terminology and placing this in a

business context. It was important that the respondents could easily interpret the questions and complete the main mail survey without difficulty. This hybrid or multi-method research strategy, where a qualitative phase is used to facilitate and refine the questions in the main quantitative phase is commonly used in applied business research (Bryman and Bell 2004; Cooper and Schindler 2003; Jankowicz 1995).

This qualitative phase was also considered important for the profile of the research, where active support from recognised business leaders in the West Midlands was a prerequisite for promoting the legitimacy and creditability for the project. It was important for the success of the study that participating in the survey was actively promoted by these business leaders, being recognised for their position of influence within the business community. It was also important for the overall project to secure the support of the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, which was supporting the research and therefore interested in the findings. By openly promoting the benefits of the study to the region’s business leaders and networking groups at an early stage in the project, it was hoped to encourage the widest possible support for the study when the main survey was launched.

Despite the apparent operational advantages of conducting a pilot study prior to the survey, the literature suggests that this stage is often omitted from the research process due to either time or cost pressures (Lehmann 1979). This opinion is supported by Hunt et al. (1982), commenting that despite the widely recognised importance of pilot-testing in survey research, pilot surveys have received little methodological attention. Items that

may be tested can be specific question areas, use of terminology, or the survey instrument itself. The pilot study process can be administered by (1) personal interviews, (2) telephone interviews, or (3) self completed reports. Personal interviews are the most time-consuming and costly method but arguably the most beneficial, as they enable the interviewer to gain a much deeper understanding of the issues through good eye contact, by listening carefully to the responses and by watching for hesitation or uncertainty.

Because it was important to encourage the support of business leaders who would then act as advocates for the main survey, it was decided that a personal interview would be the preferred approach. This offered the advantage of a face-to-face interview with senior executives acknowledged within the business community for their networking experience. The interviews were planned and conducted by myself, as I felt it was important to be seen to be leading the survey and to be able to demonstrate competence in both the subject of business networking and the research process. There is some ambiguity in the literature as to the selection of the interviewer in the survey process.

Boyd et al. (1977) recommend that only the best interviewers be used in pilot survey work, whereas Backstrom and Hursch (1963) suggest that in the pilot survey it is useful to use different interviewers to be able to assess problems with the interviewer as well and the respondents. Tull and Hawkins (1976) recommend that in the pilot survey, the nature of the interviewer is as close to as possible to the respondents, which helps to overcome potential objections to participating in the survey.

4.2 Sample Characteristics and Method

In deciding the size of the sample in the qualitative survey there is a consistent view in the literature that the sample is necessarily ‘small’. Hunt et al. (1982) suggest that the sample is between twelve and thirty respondents, with twenty recommended by Boyd et al. (1977). This was the number that was adopted for this survey as twenty depth interviews was considered sufficient to gain a spread of opinion, without being too costly or time consuming to complete.

The sampling method chosen was snowball sampling, recommended as a practical solution for sample selection in industrial marketing research and used successfully by Dawes (1987). The term ‘snowball sampling’ was used by Goodman (1961) in a multi stage process to produce a sample from a finite survey population. As Dawes (1987) states; “In the social sciences, the term ‘snowball sampling’ is used more loosely, being applied to any technique to develop a sample of a population by using an initial set of respondents as informants to aid finding additional members of the population of interest, that can be subsequently interviewed”. The decision to use snowball sampling to reach the desired senior executives is supported by Moriarty (1983) as the technique enables high quality respondents, a high response rate and increased quality of data.

To meet the qualitative survey criteria respondents needed to be recognised within the business community as being; (a) an experienced business networker, (b) chief executive or director level, (c) being an active member of one or more business networks, (d) located within the West Midlands region. Six prominent business leaders with excellent

network connections were identified with the assistance of the Regional Development Agency (AWM), Birmingham Forward (professional business services agency), Business Link (West Midlands) and the Chambers of Commerce. Telephone appointments were made with identified contacts who met the sample frame criteria. The interviews commenced with Birmingham based business leaders. The suggested contacts were known to be members of one of the regional development groups and therefore active in business-to-business networking circles and formed the ‘key informant’ group to assist in the design of the main survey instrument.

The purpose of the study was explained to the potential respondents during an initial telephone call and once agreement to participate in the pilot study was obtained, details of the interview were confirmed by e-mail, together with a summary of the interview protocol and its objectives. The interview was structured around the six areas of interest described below, using a series of open questions based on the following headings:- Section 1: Networking experience and membership of business networks

Section 2: Network environment, behaviour, attitude and approach to networking Section 3: Network characteristics, relationships, trust, allegiance and collaboration Section 4: Network capability, membership, priorities, competence and resources Section 5: Networking outcomes and networking performance